Mrs. Devilbiss, on behalf of the staff, presented Mrs. Dorsey with a survival kit -- a tote bag containing an umbrella, a bird identification guide, a journal and pens, a walkie-talkie and a box of fat Crayolas.

"And you can't go anywhere without a good book, so here's a book," Mrs. Devilbiss said, handing over a children's storybook.

The approximately 700 students hooted and cheered as Mrs. Dorsey hopped into the bucket of the cherry-picker, displaying no small degree of agility, to be hoisted one story to the roof.

On the flat roof, she had a lawn chair and an umbrella to provide shade.

"It's cool," said Russ Saylor, a third-grader. He figured Mrs. Dorsey could "make friends with birds all day."

Classmate Greg Metille said the event was even more fun than he had imagined, and surely worth the time he spent reading "White Fang" and "Huckleberry Finn."

Mrs. Dorsey went up to the roof shortly before 10 a.m., with plans to stay until 3 p.m.

By midday, however, she decided to go ahead and stay until 4 p.m., so she could wave goodbye to the children as they left school.

As for the stray balls, a secretary at the school relayed a message from Mrs. Dorsey that she didn't find any.